Pretending to Be an Untouchable Crime Boss-Chapter 244: Faith and Trust.

"I didn’t mean it that way." Benjamin said as he gathered all his power to speak without stuttering, without any hesitation in it, to show James that he is still somebody who he can trust. "I know very well how it feels to lose people close to you as well. I understand those emotions that are all gathered in you, but now we need to act in a way that we not just hold the power, but actually do everything to make sure we don’t slip up. I know all of it just didn’t make sense, that what William did, that there are plenty of deals between a lot of people, that you are the one that needs to act on the national emergency, but at the same time, this is the exact moment we can take control of all of it." He said, something that James and, well, everybody around knew. freёnovelkiss.com

This whole situation is the best time, not even more than that, the greatest time to reach out and grab whatever they want. Everybody is panicking, everybody now tries to stay as low as possible to see what happens and how it happens. In the criminal world, nobody, just nobody wants anything but to save themselves, and at the same time grab a piece of what is left, what is now just floating free.

"I know exactly, and sorry for my behavior." James suddenly said, but still his voice sounded dangerous. Still, there was the heat of their conversations. "But it’s not just about me, it’s about the whole family, Benjamin. People working for me who too lost all hope in the government, people who see through all of this bullshit, and now what we are doing is exactly going against my people, who chose me, chose my side, my family to be the one they feel comfortable with, the family that they do everything for and have the trust in." He said as he stopped and looked deep into Benjamin’s eyes.

"Can you imagine what would happen if that trust, if that loyalty even just a bit weakens? They chose me because the politicians abandoned them long ago. They lived like dogs, weren’t even able to provide for their families, for themselves. And then they found me, the light in their life. And I’m not going to abandon them because Linda, William, or whoever the fuck is thinking that they can control me, that they can control the narrative with me. Because to them, to my people I am the one who truly represents them, the one that stands for them."

The truth that was the most important of all of it, the people who are there for him and the reason they are for him. It’s because of what he just said, and Benjamin knew it, but not just him, even William, even Linda, every single one of them knew it.

Those thousand people behind James, those people are not there for him for fun, not there because they are slaves or were pressured to be there... but because it was the only fucking choice they could make to break off from their life in poverty, from the suffering they went through.

Young, old, women, men, they are all there because there wasn’t anything else but the Bellini family. A family that isn’t a typical gangster family... but a true family that is there for them, that pays them well, that takes care of them... and now that trust, that loyalty, that love for the family, for James, can be shaken with all of this, because they aren’t dumb.

They see what is happening. They see that their boss, their family, is the only single one that is not getting busted, no prosecution, no arrests, no raids, nothing against them. They aren’t even in the newspaper, not even online... and it’s just too much to believe that it’s because they bribed the right people. It’s too much to believe that money can do this much.

They will eventually realize that James Bellini is hand in hand with the government. With the same government that left them behind. The government that did nothing for them. That left them in hunger, in poverty, in prosperity.

And when that realization fully hits them, that’s when everything can fall apart, because loyalty, once questioned, never comes back the same.

James knows it. Deep down he knows that no matter how strong his grip is, no matter how much respect, fear, or love he gets... if they start to doubt, even for a second, then it’s over.

Not a gunshot, not a betrayal, not a bullet to the head, but silence.

Benjamin knew that too. He didn’t need James to say it aloud. It was in his voice, in the cracks between his anger and sorrow. The fear wasn’t losing power, it was losing the people, because without them, James Bellini wasn’t anything but another name on a file.

That’s where it cuts the deepest not in the bloodshed, not in the threats from politicians or rival gangs, but in the hollow, unspoken shift in the eyes of the very people he once saved. The ones who used to look at him like he was the first light after years of darkness, and now... now they could look at him like they don’t know who the fuck he is anymore. Because to them, James didn’t just offer money, power, or shelter... he gave them purpose. He gave them something the world never did, dignity, worth, a place to stand tall without shame. But over time, that image can fracture. Not because of something he says or does, but because of what he starts to become in their eyes... untouchable, unreachable, no longer their own, but something distant.

And now this is exactly what could happen, because if he acts on it, it will show that he’s not just avoiding the law, he’s walking beside it, hand in hand with the same corrupt fuckers who left them starving, beaten, and voiceless. He had saved those people from that life, pulled them out of the filth, out of addiction, abuse, poverty, off the streets and they repaid him with a loyalty that bordered on worship. But now, that same loyalty could be poisoned by doubt if he makes the wrong move.

Because they didn’t just follow him out of fear or profit, they followed him because he gave them something no one else ever had, a chance.

And now that chance could feel like a lie. Now they could wonder if the man they once believed would die for them is even capable of hearing them anymore.

When people stop believing in the one who saved them when the symbol of their survival becomes a stranger it doesn’t just shake their trust, but their entire being.

James knows that if he loses them not just their presence, but their belief then everything he fought for, everything he bled to build, will mean nothing more than just another empire built on fear, not faith.

If that were to happen, then the deaths of Rafael, Hans, and Marcello would mean nothing

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